Qualifier run gives Louth a lift

Darren Clarke

28 December 2005

Louth rose from the ashes of a crushing Leinster football championship defeat to Offaly to enjoy an extended run in the All-Ireland qualifiers. Needless to say, star forward Darren Clarke is hoping the Wee County can build on that in 2006.

The All-Ireland qualifier series has rescued many a team’s season since its introduction in 2001 and Louth were undoubtedly one of the main benefactors of the system in 2005.

A season which looked all but over following a dreadful display against Offaly in the Leinster championship on May 8 was given the kiss of life in the All-Ireland qualifiers as the Wee County chalked up wins over Waterford and Roscommon before losing narrowly to neighbours Monaghan in the middle of July. But for a poor start against the Farney County side, Louth could have earned a glamour meeting with eventual All-Ireland champions Tyrone at Croke Park, something which would have been unthinkable only a couple of months earlier.

“Thank God for the qualifiers,” exclaims highly-rated Louth forward Darren Clarke, who was the county’s top scorer in the championship.

“After losing the way we did against Offaly, it was difficult to see a way back for us. There was an awful lot of negativity in the county at the time, but we got a favourable draw against Waterford and while we made hard work of winning that game, we gained a lot of confidence from it and that was the start of a decent run in the qualifiers.

“What looked like being a very poor year turned into a relatively successful one and hopefully we’ll be able to build on that next year,” he adds.

The Wee County’s form in the National League certainly didn’t inspire optimism. Their first three outings against Antrim, Derry and Wicklow yielded just one point before a first win was secured against Tipperary. Their confidence was further undermined by defeats to Meath and Cavan, but they did manage to end the campaign with a win over Waterford.

“We were disappointed with how the league panned out. We only won two matches which wasn’t acceptable. Having said that, I don’t think we were that far off the pace. Antrim and Cavan both beat us by a point and Wicklow scored a late point to force a draw with us. Had those results gone our way, we could have been in the shake-up for promotion,” the St. Mary’s, Ardee clubman says.

Clarke recalls how Louth’s preparations for the Offaly game were far from ideal. “We had a crippling injury list which meant that we went into the game more in hope than confidence.”
As it transpired, the Wee County slumped to a 1-6 to 1-15 defeat in what was a most disappointing opening game in the 2005 championship. Despite being extremely wasteful, Offaly were never threatened after they hit an unanswered 1-3 before the break. Louth briefly rallied after the restart, but the Faithful County quickly regained the initiative to run out comfortable winners.

Fortunately for Louth, the All-Ireland qualifier first round draw pitted them against favourable opposition in the shape of Waterford. A further boost for Val Andrews’ side was the fact that the game was fixed for Drogheda, but with their confidence still in a brittle state, Louth struggled to shake off the Munster minnows and were relieved to come away with a 1-12 to 1-8 victory.

For most of the match, there was little to separate the teams, but Waterford seemed to lose their way towards the end and had three players sent off for separate incidents as grateful Louth took full advantage to claim a place in the second round. The sides were level on 1-7 apiece before a late flurry of points from Paddy Matthews (two), Nicky McDonnell, David Devaney and Clarke settled the issue.

Louth’s rehabilitation was almost complete when a late fisted point from JP Rooney gave them a superb 0-11 to 0-10 victory over troubled Roscommon at the same venue a few weeks later. After an evenly contested opening quarter, points from Shane Lennon and Clarke gave the home side a 0-6 to 0-4 lead at the break.

When Clarke landed his fourth point on the resumption, Louth looked to be coasting but they gave their supporters plenty to worry about by then going a quarter of an hour without scoring. During this time, Roscommon stormed back into contention and Karol Mannion’s 67th minute point made it 0-10 to 0-8 in favour of the Connacht men with three minutes of normal time remaining.

But Louth weren’t finished and a late rally which yielded points from Paddy Matthews, Christy Grimes - who was playing his first game for the county in over a year - and Rooney sealed a memorable victory.

The Wee County’s unexpected back door run was eventually ended by a much-improved Monaghan, who had beaten Meath in dramatic fashion to capture the National League Division 2 title at the start of the summer. The Leinster side were made to pay for a poor start, despite scoring the first two points through Darren Clarke and Shane Lennon, as they trailed by six at the end of the first quarter.

Scores from Paul Finlay and Dick Clerkin brought Monaghan into the game and when Hugh McElroy goaled in the 12th minute, the signs were ominous for Val Andrews’ charges.

The accurate free taking of Clarke, who finished with a personal tally of 0-10, kept Louth in contention, but only just as they still trailed by six points, 0-5 to 1-8, at the half-way mark. Ten minutes after the restart, Louth were reduced to 14 men when Nicky McDonnell was red-carded and with Monaghan stretching their lead yet again, it looked as the Ulster side would run out easy winners.

But as in the Roscommon game, Louth finished strongly and points from Clarke and Paddy Mathews left just the minimum between the sides, 0-14 to 1-12, at the finish.

“It was great to be still involved in the championship in the middle of July,” Clarke reflects.

“The heads were down after the league and the championship defeat to Offaly, but thankfully we managed to turn the corner after that and the lads deserve great credit for being able to regroup so quickly. The victories over Waterford and Roscommon gave us a great lift and we went into the Monaghan game believing we had a 50-50 chance. Unfortunately, they beat us by a point but we took a lot of positives from the performance nevertheless.”
During the autumn, Val Andrews dropped a bombshell when he resigned as manager amid rumours that the county board had been talking to prospective managers behind his back. The Dubliner had been in charge for two years and Clarke was disappointed to see him leave.

“I thought Val was doing a very good job, despite all the problems he faced with injuries. I think Louth has suffered over the years from not giving managers enough time in the job. You need that continuity to be successful,” the 22-year-old says.

Clarke points out that Louth have taken a great deal of encouragement from their performances in this year’s All-Ireland qualifiers, and says that their main objective for 2006 is to achieve promotion to Division 1 of the National League.

“We have to be targeting promotion. The only way we will improve is by playing a higher standard of league football. Monaghan won Division 2 this year and there is no reason why we can’t do the same in 2006. If we got promotion in the league, it would set us up nicely for the championship and who knows what might happen after that.

“There are some excellent footballers in Louth, but unfortunately not all of them make themselves available for selection. If everyone was prepared to give the commitment, I think we would have a serious team,” he concludes.